As the Moons continued to rise, a small chill assailed Dia’s neck, and she looked up. Earlier on, everyone had somewhat forgotten about the Moons, since Nero’s story was more than captivating enough.

However, it was clear that once again, the Moons were going to switch phases in advance.

“…Just in time, I suppose.” Nero had a complicated look on his face as the two carts were completely filled with mana. “Now, all that’s left is to cover it up with more mana so that it doesn’t leak or anything.”

“Yay, we’re done!” Risti paused. “We’ll need to hang around here for some time, though. But I don’t want to go back anytime soon, so eh.”

Dia nodded. The threat of being conscripted into fighting a war that none of them were actually invested in was a bit too much for Dia to actually go back this early. At the very least, it would be good if they had at least increased their strength by a bit more. After all, the more complete her fourth mana circuit was, the more mana she could muster; it was just that completing another mana circuit increased her total mana pool by a great deal.

“Not like this, anyhow.” Dia looked at the cart of mana, which the five of them had filled up with some painstaking effort. Schwarz, in particular, was exhausted from pouring out his mana, given his low Mana Control Proficiency.

“Drinks are ready, everyone.” Schwarz called out. “Come on, let’s gather around and do some Moonwatching.”

“Yeah, to see the Moons change phases in advance…that’s really rare.” Dia grimaced. “I would really rather that it didn’t change phases in advance, see?”

“Either way, however, this is almost a certainty.” Nero cut into the conversation, a grim expression on his face. “Something provoked the great Dark into expending its vital powers, so much so that even the imbalance of power was restored by a few days.”

“Restored by a few days?”

“That’s how I’m reading it, anyway.” Nero narrowed his eyes. “But think about it. What manner of emergency could provoke the great Dark this much? Not even the Moons and their familiar spirits were attacked like this. In fact, everyone present should know that there are some…procedures in this war, yes? And yet, the great Dark acted on something that wasn’t the Moons.”

Schwarz waltzed over with two laden trays of food. “Put that way, it does sound incredibly disturbing.”

“Does it not?” Nero replied, before leaning back. “The great Dark, attacking someone outside this great game. And it seems to have failed, of all things.”

He got up. “It might remind a few of us of certain things.”

At those words, Dia shook. Was Nero referring to Limbo and its lifeforms? Did the great Dark discover the presence of Limbo or something within its jurisdiction? It definitely seemed that way, if they used such a lens. After all, Limbo was the world’s enemy; Nero had said it himself.

Schwarz looked at her oddly. “What, did his words remind you of something?”

“No, not really.” Dia shivered. “Just that it’s a nasty thing to think about. Other than the threat of civilisation-destroying wars between the Moons and the Dark, we now need to think about the possibility of an unpredictable factor whose presence was enough to trigger the great Dark, as well as the fact that said factor survived.”

“Nero guessed that it survived. It’s not exactly the same thing.”

“Let’s assume that it survived and move on from that, shall we?” Dia replied. “Anyway, how should we prepare for such things?”

“Gathering information, naturally. But it happened outside the Istrel Sovereignty.” Schwarz made a face. “And it’s impossible to tell what’s going on much outside the sovereignty now. Spies are out, communication is minimal…whatever happened there could take months or a year to reach us.”

“We’ll need to employ some generic measures, then,” Farah chipped in, before reaching out to take a plate. “Thanks for bringing the food over, by the way. Is it really fine for you to walk around after expending so much mana?”

“I’m fine…also, I made some drinks.” Schwarz gestured at the closest table, where a few cups were glittering with fizzy bubbles. “Nero, your share’s that bottle there. Yes, you get a whole bottle.”

“Nice, a nightcap.”

“I figured that everyone’s going to need a drink after all this,” Schwarz replied, before looking up at the sky. The three Moons — one of them had squeezed in at some point in time — were now blurry, in the middle of transitioning from Half Moon to Gibbous Moon. Within the next few hours, the Moons would emerge from that state of uncertainty, and the two sides would engage in earnest.

The world shook once, and the fog covering the three Moons began to fade slowly. Tri-coloured lightning bolts tore through the sky, roaring madly as they sundered the dark night.

“It’s beginning.”

Dia didn’t know who said that, but she could keenly hear the fear that she harboured within herself in those words. The tri-coloured lightning flashed again, but this time, instead of fading away instantly, they remained in the night sky.

“Like cracks in the sky.” Risti observed quietly.

Dia nodded. More and more flashes of lightning, frozen in mid-air, had surrounded the three Moons, carving them out from the black sky. Within minutes, the tri-coloured flashes had completely surrounded the wavering Moons, and the fog that had been obscuring their true shape finally faded away entirely, their shapes oddly oblong.

Gibbous Moon had arrived.

The world began to quiver in earnest, and the isolated Moons began to fully materialise. Before her eyes, the Moons, which had seemed like a painting began to seemingly pop out of the canvas of the sky.

That very action rattled the world once more, and a howling wind picked up as the three Moons tore themselves away from the firmament. The near-complete spheres of red, blue and yellow light began to shrink, turning into—

“Don’t look!” Nero screamed. “Eyes down! Do not behold the purest form of divinities!”

As his warning rang out, the sky itself flared with tri-coloured light, blocking out anything else. The warning bells clanging in Dia’s head died away a moment later, and she let out a sigh, her clothes clinging uncomfortably to her body.

“Looks like the Moons are at least aware that everyone here is effectively under their dominion,” Schwarz forced out, touching his heart. “I thought I was going to die, damn.”

He wiped his sweat as the world continued to shake. The tri-coloured sky, which had blocked out the true form of the Moons, continued to glow and shimmer, and their colours eventually began to meld together. Within moments, Dia could no longer tell which was which, and the tri-coloured layer turned white.

It fell apart a moment later, but rather than the tri-coloured light that Dia was intuitively expecting, the world was now bathed in a cooling white light.

“Moons…what is that?” Nero whispered.

“…Moon, I think. The three Moons have descended fully…this must be their replacement,” Farah muttered. “It’s odd. I’d always wondered why moonwheat was this colour, or why we even named it moonwheat to begin with. But if you look at the Moons…uh, Moon now, it’s clearer than ever.”

Dia rubbed her nose. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, it’s the same colour,” Farah replied. “It seems like we humans can instinctively put a name to the Moon, even if we can’t quite recognise it.”

“So, do we swear by the Moons, or by the Moon now?” Risti asked, looking up at the giant white globe hanging above everyone. “This is getting rather confusing, and that’s putting it mildly. Or are there four Moons now?”

“Or, you know,” Nero cut in, “we call them by their names and leave ‘Moon’ for the yellow-white globe that’s radiating a cold light? Anyway, it’s just a cultural thing. We’ll all adapt to it, probably.”

The world continued to rumble as a white gibbous moon illuminated the world. The three Moons were probably still in the process of fully descending, but Dia wasn’t too sure what was going on right now.

Lightning continued to roar, and intuitively, Dia understood that when the thunder and lightning stopped, the Moons would have stepped foot on their world.

When did this last happen? Or did this even happen before? Dia didn’t know, but this was definitely history in the making. Was this a blessing? Or a curse? She didn’t know, but it definitely didn’t feel like this was a good time to be actually alive.

“By now, they should be gathering the final ounces of their strength,” Nero muttered. “Prepare yourselves, people. Once the notifications pop up, the world will step into the true beginnings of the Fourth Godsfall. Let’s hope that the Moon Emissary forgets about us…for the time being, anyway.”

“The world’s about to change, and here we are, just trying to stay outdoors.” Farah shook her head. “Well, I don’t envy Nightfall right now. Poor dude is probably about to go insane.”

Schwarz shook his head. “That is probably the understatement of the century…”

The thunderclaps began to die down, and Dia shivered.

“It’s starting.”